Before explaining why the password phrase fails, it is probably helpful to have a bit of background on what a trademark is, especially a federally \u201cregistered\u201d trademark, which generally refers to a trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is a trademark?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A trademark<\/a> is generally a word, phrase, symbol, or design, that is used in commerce to identify and distinguish the source of the goods; it can also be used to refer to a service, even though technically that is called a service mark. \u00a0Trademark examples include marks such as logos like McDonald\u2019s golden arches, product names like iPod, fictitious characters like the Geico gecko, and many other marks that identify a brand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What can be a registered trademark and why bother registering?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n That\u2019s a good question. \u00a0It definitely needs to satisfy the definition set forth above, although there are some complicated situations<\/a> where even those that satisfy that definition can\u2019t be registered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n While registration is not required, many individuals and companies still choose to do so to protect their Intellectual Property (IP) from competition. \u00a0Doing so grants them special federal protections<\/a> against infringement. \u00a0In other words, the owner of a registered trademark can more easily take legal action against others who used the mark, or something similar to it that would likely confuse consumers. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Now let\u2019s consider what you know about registered trademarks with the four situations above.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Option B: Marauder\u2019s Map<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Warner Bros. sought to protect the phrase popularized by Harry Potter<\/em> that magically activates the Marauders\u2019 Map<\/a>, which helps snooping wizarding students see the secrets hiding in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the \u201cinformational slogan\u201d was determined to be only \u201ca commonplace term\u201d that only conveys \u201can ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment,\u201d<\/a> disqualifying it from trademark registration. \u00a0In other words, the phrase didn\u2019t actually identify and distinguish the Harry Potter<\/em> source since it is so common. \u00a0\u00a0What does this mean? Basically, anyone, including other companies, can use this same phrase without fear of trademark liability from Warner Bros.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Option A Explanation \u2013 Play Doh<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The toy company Hasbro<\/a> successfully registered the scent of Play Doh in 2018, as \u201ca sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.\u201d <\/a>\u00a0Although this may seem odd, most consumers will probably agree that the smell of Play Doh is quite distinctive. \u00a0So, other companies that sell modeling compound need to \u2013 and in fact do \u2013 have different smells.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Option C Explanation – Linsanity<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n NBA superstar Jeremy Lin<\/a> successfully registered<\/a> Linsanity<\/a> in 2016 even though he wasn\u2019t the first to file. An overzealous fan<\/a> with no connection to the sport was the first on record with the USPTO for \u201cLinsanity.\u201d \u00a0However, the clear connection to Jeremy Lin allowed his claim to prevail<\/a> for use with a variety of items, including bags, cups, clothes, and toys. \u00a0In other words, registration permits Jeremy Lin himself to profit from Linsanity, rather than some other company.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Option D Explanation \u2013 \u201cThat\u2019s Hot\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Reality television star Paris Hilton<\/a> successfully registered<\/a> her catchphrase, \u201cthat\u2019s hot,\u201d<\/a> from her reality television show, The Simple Life<\/em>, for use on products such as men\u2019s and women\u2019s clothing. Even though this may seem like a common phrase– the same problem the Marauder\u2019s Map password had– it\u2019s not necessarily common for clothing, so the phrase can identify the goods as part of Paris Hilton\u2019s brand. \u00a0After Hallmark used this phrase<\/a> without permission on a greeting card, Hilton sued for trademark infringement which ultimately resulted in a settlement<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What do you think? Comment below?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Becky Bavlsik<\/em> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A trademark is generally a word, phrase, symbol, or design, that is used in commerce to identify and distinguish the source of the goods; it can also be used to refer to a service, even though technically that is called a service mark. Trademark examples include marks such as logos like McDonald\u2019s golden arches, product names like iPod, fictitious characters like the Geico gecko, and many other marks that identify a brand. Continue reading Trademark Trivia: Which of the following is NOT a (federally) registered trademark?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":4368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11],"tags":[104,159,220,239,262,322],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun-facts","category-trademarks","tag-federal-trademark","tag-jeremy-lin","tag-paris-hilton","tag-play-doh","tag-registered-trademark","tag-trademarks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4369,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/4369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ipbytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/BB.jpg\")
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Assistant Blogger<\/em>
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2021<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n